As the World Falls Down
by Glitchie
Summary: Was Jareth really an evil Goblin King, or was he simply a man in love? Labyrinth, what if the story was told from Jareth's point of view? No pairing.


Introduction

There's such a sad love

Deep in your eyes, a kind of pale jewel

Open and closed within your eyes

I'll place the sky within your eyes

There's such a fooled heart

Beating so fast in search of new dreams

A love that will last within your heart

I'll place the moon within your heart

As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill has gone

Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-oo-oo

As the world falls down

Falling

(As the world) Falling down

Falling in love

I'll paint you mornings of gold

I'll spin you Valentine evenings

Though we're strangers till now

We're choosing the path between the stars

I'll leave my love between the stars

As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill has gone

Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-oo-oo

As the world falls down

Falling

(As the world) Falling down

Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

As the world falls down

(down) Falling

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling

Makes no sense at all

Makes no sense to fall

Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling

Falling in love

As the world falls down

(down) Falling

Falling

Falling in love

Falling in love (love)

Falling in love

Falling in love

Falling in love

Jareth watched, hidden as Sarah made her way through the dream world he had created for her. She was dressed in a beautiful ivory ball gown, her dark brown hair cascading in soft waves down her back, and held away from her face by ribbons and beads. He had taken the image from one of her toys, a music box with a dancing figurine in a glass case. He knew it meant something to her because he had seen it when he looked into her dreams.

Sarah was an unusual girl Jareth mused. He had watched her all day, for she had truly intrigued him. She had been dressed as a princess, and carried a book bound in red leather with her, often quoting lines from it when he first saw her. Odd, he had thought, for a girl her age to play dress up. She wasn't old by any means, but she looked to be too old for such things anyway. He knew the story from which she was reading well, for it was written about him.

Perhaps it was that little fact that intrigued him, or maybe it was her boldness as she approached him from across the bridge. He really couldn't say. She had been so close... come within a few feet of him; spoken those words right to him. She hadn't come any closer, probably afraid that she would startle him into flight. He cursed the fact that he could not take human form, because he so wanted to talk her, but she would likely be startled if he said something to her in the form of a snowy owl. This was her world after all, and talking animals were thought of existing simply in fairytales.

Yes, he had watched her all day after that. He had heard her speak the words to order the goblins to take away her little brother, Toby. He usually let his goblins handle those requests on their own and didn't involve himself, but then something had happened. She had gone looking for Toby when he'd stopped crying and panicked, looking for him as though she didn't believe that the goblins had actually taken him away. Sensing her fear in the dark as his goblins scurried about the room, Jareth had appeared at the window, and opened it with his magic. Flying in, he'd startled her, and she hid her face. He fluttered around a moment, getting his bearings, then appeared before her in his human form at last. Looking at her expectantly.

"You're him aren't you?" she had asked. "You're the goblin king. I want my brother back, please, if its all the same." The memory of their first conversation came back to him, and brought with it a strange and painful feeling.

"What's said is said," Jareth had replied.

"But I didn't mean it."

"Oh, you didn't?" Jareth had asked, surprised by her request, but then, he had never dealt directly with anyone who had made such a request.

"Please, where is he?"

"You know very well where he's at," Jareth had replied scathingly. She knew the story, he was there standing before her, and still she didn't believe.

"Please bring him back. Please."

"Sarah," he said, the sound rolling off his tongue like liquid silk as he moved closer. "Go back to your room, play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby."

"I can't," Sarah had answered quietly.

"I've brought you a gift," Jareth said, and conjured a bubble that began to solidify.

"What is it?"

"It's a crystal," Jareth replied, playing with it, rolling it over his hand and then from one hand to the other. "Nothing more. But if you turn it this way, and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby. Do you want it? Then forget the baby."

"I can't," she said after a moment. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but I want my brother back. He must be so scared."

"Sarah," Jareth said firmly, transforming the crystal into a large black snake that coiled around his fingers. He saw the fear in her eyes as they widened as she watched him uncoil the snake before he through it at her neck. "Don't defy me."

She gasped in fear, her hands clutching the snake waiting for it to strike before it changed again into a small furry creature with a scarf and laughed before it disappeared.

"You're no match for me, Sarah," Jareth said matter-of-factly.

"But I have to have my brother back."

Jareth sighed and closed his eyes a moment, then pointed out her open window. "He's there, in my castle. Do you still want to look for him?"

Sarah blinked and stepped up to the window but instead of seeing the dark stormy sky and houses she had expected, an new landscape appeared at dawn with a castle in they distance beyond a labyrinth.

"Is that the castle beyond the goblin city?" Sarah asked, quoting a line from her book.

"Turn back Sarah," Jareth said instead of answering her question. "Turn back before it's too late."

"I can't. Don't you understand that I can't?"

"What a pity."

"It doesn't look that far," she said looking out into the distance as Jareth approached her.

He came right up behind her, startling her with his closeness as he murmured in her ear, "It's further than you think, and time is short. You have thirteen hours in which to solve the labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us forever. Such a pity," Jareth said as he faded into nothingness. He had been both annoyed and intrigued by her persistence, bravery and determination when she made it to the oubliette.

He had been so annoyed with her at that point when she had bragged that the labyrinth was a piece of cake that he conjured the cleaners, adding another glimpse of the dangers she was facing if she continued. This didn't detour her however, as he was soon forced to create the poisoned peach that brought her here.

Now, back in her dream world, he had no idea why he had done that... allowed her to attempt to reclaim her brother. It wasn't something he had ever done before. He had even tried to detour her several times. He was furious that she had employed the help of some of his subjects on her quest. She should have done it on her own. She had first come across Hoggle who was encouraged to join her by the promise of plastic jewels. He had threatened him and gave him a peach to give her... which brought them to where they were now.

Coming back to himself, Jareth once again began to follow her through her dream world He showed himself to her as the music began to play and then vanished. He stayed in hiding for a while as she looked around. It was likely that she sensed his presence. Finally, he appeared before her, obviously closer than what she had anticipated, her eyes large and unguarded as she looked at him, her lips slightly parted and begging to be kissed. He stepped closer, his breath hitching in his throat and his heart beginning to hammer in his chest, and looked at her a moment before swallowing and taking her in his arms, dancing with her.

'Oh, but I'll be there for you-oo-oo, as the world falls down,' he mouthed to her and that's when he felt it. He would give her anything she asked for at that moment, including her brother. But then something happened, something he didn't expect. A clock chimed and she saw it and he felt pain in his chest as she tore herself from his grasp. As he watched her move through the crowd, he mouthed the last of the song, 'falling in love', and knew it must be true. She was nearly out of sight, moving through the crowd in the dream world he had created for her. She running til she saw her reflection, she picked up a nearby chair and shattered the boundaries of the world like glass and the spell was broken and it felt as though his heart had broken with it.

He cursed himself for his inattention when a goblin rushed into his throne room in panic a few hours later announcing that Sarah had made it to the goblin city and was on her way to the castle. "What?" he asked in surprise. "Stop her! Call out the guards, take the baby and hide it. She must be stopped!" It was personal now. No one had ever asked for the child he had taken at their request be given back, and no one had ever made it that far before. If she made it here in time, he would not only lose the child that he intended to make his heir, but he would lose Sarah as well, for they would return to her world together.

He watched in fear from his castle as Sarah and her companions battled and defeated his guards and headed toward the castle as time became short. Finally, it was up to him to stop her as she entered the castle with her companions. Surprisingly, she headed to confront him alone. The castle itself was like a labyrinth with stairs going right side, upside down and sideways.

As she entered the room, he moved to the underside of the stairs she was on, and turned from upside down to right side up in front of her, giving her a start. "How you turned my world, you precious thing. You starve and near exhaust me. Everything I've done, I've done for you. I move the stars for no one. You've run so long, you've run so far. Your eyes can be so cruel, just as I can be so cruel. Though I do believe in you, yes I do. Live without the sunlight, love without your heartbeat. I, I can't live within you," Jareth said, looking sad and forlorn as he watched Sarah chase after her little brother, his heart breaking. The boy was already able to wander the odd stairs of the castle without problem, and now he would have to give him up if he couldn't delay her a little longer.

"Give me the child," Sarah said, she landed on the tower after attempting to jump to the level her brother was on, and Jareth appeared out of the shadows.

"Sarah, beware. I have been generous until now, but I can be cruel."

"Generous?" Sarah asked in disbelief. "What have you done that's generous?"

"Everything!" Jareth snapped. "Everything that you have wanted, I have done. You asked that the child be taken, I took him. You coward before me, I was frightened. I have realtered time, I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you. I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations. Isn't that generous?"

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered," Sarah replied after studying him for a moment, never wavering in her steadfast gaze into his eyes and slowly advanced on him as he backed up. "I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city. For my will is as strong as yours and my king -"

"Stop," Jareth said, holding his hand out to her, a look of desperation and fear on his face. "Wait. Look Sarah, look what I'm offering you." He conjured the crystal again and held it out to her. "Your dreams."

"And my kingdom is great," Sarah continued.

"I ask for so little," Jareth said pleadingly. "Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want."

"My kingdom is great," Sarah said, turning slightly in thought. "Damn, I can never remember that line."

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave," Jareth pleaded, his hand still extended, offering her the crystal.

"My kingdom is great," Sarah whispered. "My kingdom is great..." She looked up then, realization coming to her as she remembered the line, and looked at him in awe. "You have no power over me." Her words echoed as Jareth tossed the crystal in the air as the clock chimed. If only it had taken her one more minute. Looking at her with a pained expression, the crystal turned into a bubble once more and popped against her fingertips when she reached out as he fell, his robes billowing as he turned into an owl once more, the spell that allowed him to become human in her world broken. He flew off out the window. He had come to love her and had lost her in one night...

He paused on a branch outside her room and watched as she welcomed the other creatures from his world into her life and home. Heartbroken, he flew off silently vowing that he would keep an eye on Toby though, he promised himself that. The boy would be his heir, whether Sarah came into his life again or not.


End file.
